Syracuse area critic of Price Chopper gets reaction on Twitter

The Associated PressAfter a Syracuse area critic posted negative comments about an unnamed area Price Chopper, and employee of the grocery chain contacted that person's employer and asked that he be disciplined. The chain has apologized for the employee's actions.

Syracuse, NY -- Social media became social distortion for the supermarket chain Price Chopper after a representative of Price Chopper’s customer service department got into a personal tweeting dispute with a Syracuse-area customer.

Now the Twitter chatter is going viral.

The dispute erupted after the customer posted a tweet on Price Chopper’s Twitter page that criticized the supermarket chain. A Price Chopper employee reacted by contacting the customer’s employer and requesting he be disciplined.

The tweet reads in part, “Every time I go into a @PriceChopperNY I realize why they are not @Wegmans. Tonight — bare produce areas” and a picture of a sign that the customer thought showed poor store organization.

Twitter is a microblogging site where people who have free accounts post tweets, or messages of 140 characters or fewer. Many businesses, including retailers, have Twitter accounts where they interact with customers and allow customers to post tweets.

Rotolo said he was approached by his friend last week after a representative of Price Chopper contacted that person’s employer about the tweet.

Rotolo put the whole affair in a blog, with a photo of a Price Chopper supermarket with “fail” stamped on it. The customer did not wish to reveal his name in The Post-Standard because of his employment situation, Rotolo said.

Rotolo spelled out what happened:

“After receiving this complaint, Price Chopper’s public relations team did the unthinkable — they contacted the customer’s employer (which was mentioned in the individual’s Twitter bio) requesting disciplinary action be taken against the individual for their negative post,” Rotolo writes in his blog.

Rotolo would not say whether the customer was disciplined or for whom the customer worked.

Heidi Reale, director of consumer insights at Price Chopper, posted on Rotolo’s blog, “This associate (the Price Chopper employee) had no responsibility for, or permission from, Price Chopper to address customer complaints or the customer’s employer. This is why we knew nothing about it when it was tweeted at us today. We are sorry for this unfortunate incident, and we are working to take the appropriate actions to repair the trust that has been compromised by this associate.”

Rotolo said he saw the situation as a “teaching moment” in the increasingly murky mash-up of business and the social media world. His online blog about the incident had received 117 comments by Tuesday afternoon.

“The choice a Price Chopper employee made to reach out to someone’s employer was wrong, just wrong,” said Rotolo. “The idea now is are we now public speakers for our employers? Or do expectations change?”

Rotolo said he has been in touch with representatives of Price Chopper, which operates 10 stores in Central New York.

“A lot of people questioned whether I should have said it was a failure,” said Rotolo. “Clearly, it was a failure. Anytime a corporation attempts to impact a career of a customer and their employer is, to me, clearly a failure.”

However, said Rotolo, Price Chopper is stepping up and owning up.

“I do believe they regret it,” said Rotolo. “It’s not indicative of their overall approach to customer service. They’re going to continue this discussion with me and have even agreed to come into one of my social media classes (at SU).